LIVE: Ipsa chairman Sir Ian Kennedy talks to BBC Radio 5 live's Victoria Derbyshire about a pay rise for MPs
MPs' pay should be increased by £6,000 to £74,000 a year from 2015, the Commons expenses watchdog has said.
But the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa)
also recommends cuts to perks such as meal allowances and taxis and a
less generous pension scheme.And "golden goodbyes" paid to retiring MPs could also be trimmed.
But some MPs say such a pay rise would be out of step with pay elsewhere and could damage Parliament's reputation.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who like PM David Cameron has said he will not take the increase, said it was "about the worst time to advocate a double digit pay increase for MPs".
Speaking on London radio station LBC 97.3, Mr Clegg said "everyone has to be treated as fairly and equal in the public sector" and the public would find the proposed salary increase "incomprehensible".
The Ipsa proposals include:
- A salary of £74,000 in 2015, with rises after that linked to average earnings across the whole economy
- A new pension on a par with other parts of the public sector
- Scrapping "resettlement payments", which were worth up to £64,766 for long-serving MPs still of a working age, the first £30,000 of which was tax-free. and introducing "more modest" redundancy packages, available only to those who contest their seat and lose
- A "tighter regime" of business costs and expenses - including an end to the £15 a night meal allowance
"For the first time, an independent body will decide what MPs should receive. We will do so in full view, and after consultation with the public."
'Totally wrong' Sir Ian told BBC Radio 5 Live MPs should be treated like "modern professionals" and part of the package was a "radical proposal" to introduce an annual "report card" to show the public what MPs did for their money.
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A Labour source pointed out that the law which created Ipsa forces it to review MPs' pay again at the start of the next Parliament, so this pay rise was "pie in the sky" ”
He said the pay rise proposal was
"fair" because MPs' pay had "fallen back" over the years and they
needed to properly rewarded for the job they did.
He said there was never a good time to increase MPs' pay, but
said the changes were designed to "last a generation rather than just
respond to the latest political issue", and taken together with the
expenses reforms would save taxpayers money."When you look at the package as a whole it is fair to the taxpayer and fair to MPs," he said.
MPs used to decide their own pay but it was handed to Ipsa, an independent body, in the wake of the 2009 expenses scandal.
MPs are currently paid £66,396, but that is due to rise to £67,060 in April 2014 and rise by a further 1% the following year.
The recommendation amounts to a rise of around £6,300 a year, or 9.3%, on what MPs would be getting in 2015.
MPs' pay around the world (2012) |
|
|---|---|
|
Source: Ipsa |
|
|
Spain |
£44,618 |
|
France |
£52,028 |
|
UK (Westminster) |
£65,738 |
|
Germany |
£72,294 |
|
United States |
£111,251 |
|
Japan |
£167,784 |
It has been reported that MPs' current final salary pension scheme will be downgraded to a career average system.
And the £15 allowance MPs are allowed to claim for dinner when they are required to stay in the Commons after 19:30 will be scrapped.
Margaret Hodge, Labour chairwoman of the influential Public Accounts Committee, said it was "inappropriate at a time when every public sector worker is being asked to take a 1% rise" that MPs should be out of line.
Labour MP John Mann said: "It really gives us all a bad reputation, a bad name. It's been bad enough after the expenses scandal and, frankly, if this was to go through it would be catastrophic for the reputation of Parliament."
He said MPs needed "to be in the real world" and Ipsa had got its calculations "totally wrong".
"Why should we be compared with doctors? Why not compare us with cleaners?" he told the BBC News Channel, adding that current MPs' pay was "perfectly reasonable" and "we should not get more than the rest of the country".
MPs will not get a vote on the pay decision but Mr Mann said he hoped to force one in the Commons before the next election in 2015, which Ipsa could not ignore.
A senior Labour source said: "Our view is clear that any decision about MPs' pay must reflect wider economic circumstances and what is happening in the rest of the public sector.
"It must be consistent with what is happening to nurses, teachers and others in the public sector as well as conditions in the private sector."
Pay freeze In a speech last week, Sir Ian said the watchdog had been "impressed by the idea that MPs' pay should move in line with the fortunes of those they represent, such that MPs' pay would be indexed to movements in national average earnings. If the average wage goes up, MPs' pay would go up. If the average wage falls, MPs' pay would fall."
MPs used to vote on their own pay but from 2008, recommended pay rises were made by the Senior Salaries Review Body which were supposed to take place automatically.
However its recommendation for a 1% rise in 2011-12 was voted down by MPs, at the instigation of the government, because of a two-year pay freeze imposed on the public sector.
In May 2011, powers to set and administer MPs' salaries passed to Ipsa, which went on to freeze MPs' pay for 2012-13.
MPs and members of the public will be able to take part in a consultation before Ipsa publishes its final plans - expected in the autumn - which would then come into force without the need for further legislation.
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